Publisher's Synopsis
This is the true story of Charles Langley, an Englishman from London, who became apprentice to a powerful Navajo Indian medicine man in the remote desert of the American Southwest. His early experiences of Navajo witchcraft, divination and healing, and of the visions induced by the sacred peyote cactus, were so remarkable that he wanted to share his experiences with others, but quickly realized that many would have difficulty believing him. Encouraged by the medicine man Blue Horse, and using skills honed as a top British journalist, Langley began to keep a detailed diary of the extraordinary events he witnessed. From these diaries, nearly half a million words long, this compelling first person account has been crafted.
Readers will learn of the daily fight against witches and witchcraft. Of skin walkers, who are human shape shifters the Navajo believe can turn themselves into animals and birds of ill omen. Of visions, and remarkable feats of divination and healing, as well as gaining fascinating insights into the unique culture of the Navajo people. As Blue Horse's apprentice Langley finds himself inhabiting a parallel world, filled with exactly the kind of ancient mysticism and beliefs that his western upbringing and education have taught him to disregard. As these experiences increasingly become the everyday reality of his life, he finds he must choose either to continue his big city existence, or accept the terrifying world of Navajo witchcraft and explore it to the end.
